This is a good thing for people who like their watches to look better, longer. When it comes to colors such as red or blue (on those models), Omega uses injected vulcanized rubber as they did on other 2016 Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean models that were debuted at Baselworld. Omega further employs their Liquidmetal or Ceragold (same as Liquidmetal but uses gold) technology on the bezels and crowns to apply the markers and Omega logo.
Omega has been getting extremely serious about refining and improving their existing watches recently, so what models like the new Planet Ocean replica watches lack in sheer novelty, they make up for in small, notable details and overall improvements. The benefit of this technology is best explained in terms of wear resistance. Rather than print on top of the ceramic material, Liquidmetal used melted metal to fill in channels to innovate the markers – which will not scratch away.
A good example is “Naiad Lock,” which is a new system created by Omega replica watches to ensure that their ceramic casebacks screw onto the case so that the text is perfectly level with the watch. It is a small detail for sure, but will resonate well with a lot of customers looking for efforts to find perfection in luxury watches. I also like that Omega is very straightforward about the appeal of their 18k Sedna (rose) gold models which combine the attractive look of gold and black ceramic. Note that, in addition to being a deep-diving ceramic watch, the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean GMT Deep Black also features a sapphire crystal exhibition case-back – which is not common to find on dive watches at all.
An exhibition case-back is a good thing because we get to see a very admirable movement used in the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean GMT Deep Black watches. Inside is the in-house made Omega caliber 8906 “Master Chronometer” movement. This alone makes it an upgrade over the existing Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean GMT (aBlogtoWatch review here). This automatic Co-Axial movement operates at 3.5Hz (25,200bph) with a power reserve of about 60 hours. Omega doesn’t have any shortage of products to sell, but these new Deep Black versions of the Planet Ocean are really nice despite the Omega product catalog being a bit robust.
This is accomplished by use of non-metallic parts in the movement. The caliber 8906 also features a Silicon balance spring and offers the time, date, and second time zone via a 24-hour GMT hand. This is one of the newer METAS certified movements which also means that it is more or less “fully anti-magnetic.” All METAS movements are certified in-house by Omega, but also offer COSC Chronometer certification (even though COSC is at this point inferior to Omega’s METAS certification – as it also is to Rolex’s “Superlative Chronometer” certification).
The Seamaster Planet Ocean GMT originally debuted a new case size in the Planet Ocean collection that was about 43mm wide. Of course, given that it is a Planet Ocean, the watch continues to have a helium release valve at 10 o’clock (mostly for style these days). It is still my favorite size for the Planet Ocean. For the Deep Ocean (which for some reason doesn’t yet have GMT in the name as of now), replica Omega uses a 45.5mm wide (17.18mm thick) Planet Ocean case, which is interesting. Expect a lot of older Planet Ocean watches to be on the market as fans make room for some of the new ones, be they Deep Black or steel models.
The 43mm-wide Planet Ocean GMT has 24-hour marked rotating bezel, while the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean GMT Deep Black has a traditional 60-minute diver’s bezel. Omega decided to combine the largest Seamaster Planet Ocean case size with a GMT complication – which hasn’t been done until now. Omega designed a 24-hour scale into the dial itself – making it a nice hybrid solution for several users. The black ceramic dials are given a new style of Arabic numerals for 2016, and the hands are either 18k white or 18k Sedna gold (with SuperLumiNova luminant material).
Of course, what several people want to see in the future are black ceramic bracelets from Omega. Will those ever come? Maybe – it all depends on how strong they can design them. Even though they understand these are “real” dive watches, replica Omega says the “gold model is a lifestyle piece for people who enjoy time on deck.” They join this statement by discussing the overall “in-water” performance of the entire Planet Ocean collection – which is remarkably good when needed for actual diving purposes.